I am tired of the high cost of gas and a few weeks ago I decided to try to commute at least once a week to work. The only option of transportation that I had was the bus. This is no ordinary bus… it is the “Orange Line” and is designated with characteristics similar to an urban light rail system such a dedicated right-of-way with stations approximately 1 mile apart, platform ticket machines for faster boarding, public art, park and ride lots and beautiful landscaping throughout the route. Because of its many differences from standard bus services, the Orange Line vehicles are called Metro Liners (not busses). The Orange Line was named because of the many citrus trees that once blanketed the San Fernando Valley.
Here is my account of my one day of commuting to work on the Orange Line and my transfer to a regular bus to work on the Thursday after Dump The Pump Day.
I woke up at 5:15 a.m….1 1/2 hours earlier than normal. With camera in hand, I left out for my adventures in bussing to work. Everything went pretty smoothly until I completely missed the station and I had to turn around. When I got to the station, I almost made a wrong turn to enter into the bus route (no cars allowed).
I found the parking lot driveway and couldn’t find much parking at first. The parking lot holds around 600 cars. There were about 10 spaces reserved and marked “LACSD” (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department). Now why does the Sheriff’s Department need parking spaces? I parked my car and walked to the station. Now I have to buy a ticket. There was a ticket machine that took credit cards, ATM cards, bills and coins. Since my fare was only 55 cents, I didn’t want to use my ATM, so I deposited the 55 cents and received my one way ticket. The bus station was really neat. It contained covered seating, lighted signs and the ticket machine. There was a PA system that announced the bus when it arrived stating, “The bus is arriving.” So far my adventure was starting out great. The people that got on the bus were commuters dressed in suits, ties and briefcases. Okay…I can do this.
The bus arrived about 3 minutes later and I hopped on the bus and sat down. I had my ticket in my hand and there was no one to take my ticket. Hey what’s going on? There was hardly anyone on the busMetro Liner. I guess this is because it was the second stop at the start of the line. I was amazed to see that there were TV’s on the busMetro Liner. It brought you the morning news, lots of advertising and it even had a GPS showing the position of the bus Metro Liner on the map. I don’t know how the bus Metro Liner knew this, but it announced each stop….before the stop. As the bus kept progressing more people got on, and before I got to the end of the line, it was standing room only with people holding straps to steady themselves.
Once we arrived at the last stop, everyone got off the bus and started to cross the street to catch their connection, either the Red Line Subway to Los Angeles, or another bus to parts unknown. I just followed everyone like a lemming.
Since my one day commuting experience is too long to write about without losing your attention, this post will be one of several posts.
Very fancy!! Looks like fun! Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story.
It doesn’t sound like a bus at all! Is this the one where the route is surrounded by big high walls in certain spots?
James,
Yes, and the high walls are beautifully landscaped with Boston Ivy and other types of vines.
Kathryn
I can’t wait to here the rest. You left me hanging on the edge of my seat. I have been wondering if you survived!
Oh and my guess on the police parking spots is that they are reserved for them to leave their car there if they live out of the county. Here they are not allowed to drive the car home if they live out of the county so they usually leave them parked at a gas station or something.
Erin,
Nope…you are wrong. You will have to read why the Sheriff Department has parking spots in my last installment.
Kathryn
Wow, I was wondering how the bus, uh, I mean Metro Liner thing went. Can’t wait to read the next installment. It’s a good thing you were one of the first on, or you’d be hanging on one of those straps!
[…] 16, 2008 by Kathryn I described in my previous post, “Adventures in Bussing”, what it was like commuting to work on the Metro Liner from Woodland Hills to North Hollywood, […]
Wow fancy bus I mean Metro Liner. In the video it sounds more like a train. The old busses I used to get to the train station in Brisbane got replaced with fancy ones where a robot lady would say “Doors closing, please stand clear” & when a passenger pushed the ‘next stop button’ it would say “next stop requested”. But they weren’t as fancy as a Metro-Liner.
I can just imagine a bus coming up next to your car & a bloke yelling out the window “Hey driver pull over this is the Sherriff”
Yes, the Metro lines are very fine. What you may not realize is that if you do not have a car and need to trravel anywhere else in the SFV, it can take hours to get there. The bus lines run anywhere from 30 min to 1 hr in between. So when I want to got lets say to the northridge mall from my home in Encino, I have to take 2 busses and wait at least an hour and a half both ways. Not very pleasant in this summer heat. There ire very few that have adequate shade at the bus shelters either.